Circle National Trust, operating as First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A., received final approval from the OCC (U.S. bank regulator) on July 10, 2026, and began operating on July 24. Its main role is to provide regulated custody for cirBTC, Circle’s wrapped Bitcoin product. cirBTC is an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin, enabling BTC holders to use Ethereum-based DeFi (decentralized finance) applications while retaining exposure to the underlying asset. The bank will not accept deposits or issue loans. Instead, it will hold native Bitcoin for cirBTC holders in segregated, bankruptcy-remote accounts as a qualified custodian. Holders can redeem cirBTC for Bitcoin on a 1:1 basis, while Chainlink’s Proof of Reserve system provides on-chain verification that the backing assets exist. Circle applied for the charter on June 30, 2025, received conditional approval in December 2025 and obtained final approval in July 2026. The company also holds a New York BitLicense and complies with the European Union’s MiCA regulations. Circle published the cirBTC whitepaper in August 2026 and announced further integrations throughout September. The initiative places a federally regulated bank into the custody structure for wrapped Bitcoin, addressing counterparty and reserve-transparency concerns associated with earlier products such as WBTC. Circle is also the issuer of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.